The first class was on a Monday. All of us were there, with Sarah and some guy she knew. There were a dozen girls. Jane and four others had their own horses. The rest would use stable horses.
I got each girl to introduce herself, tell us about her riding experience. I introduced the Still Waters folks. Then I went into the routine I´d been thinking about.
“Almost all of you can ride. Some of you are pretty good, some are beginners. Some of you have horses of your own, the rest not.
“What we´re going to do here is something different from what you´ve done before. You´ve all come here, learned how to put a saddle and bridle on, muck out, groom the critter, that stuff. You put on the saddle and you ride. Like with a car, you fill it with gas, turn on the engine and drive. And you think that´s learning how to ride. That´s what most people learn and it´s fun.
“But it´s not right. It´s not how you really ride a western horse; there has to be a relationship. And that´s what we´re going to do, learn how to establish and maintain the relationship with the horse. You´re going to have to un-learn a lot of stuff you know, and learn a new way.
“Next Easter, we´re going to a horse show. Some of you are going to compete, and all of you are going to do a demonstration of horse handling that´s going to be tough for you and something most of the people who´ll be watching couldn´t do if they tried. I´m going to work your asses off all winter. By Easter, you´re going to be the best western riders east of the Rockies. This was all in what we sent to you and your folks. Now, here´s how we´re going to do it.
“There will be classes Tuesday and Thursday, and you´ll have things to do every other weekday. When I´m not here – I have college classes of my own the other days – my friends from Still Waters will be here. They don´t know horses, but they´ll be here to help with anything else. Because, you have to do well in school, too. I told your parents your grades would not get worse, maybe improve. We´ll help you with school work, and you´ll help each other with your horses.
“You two were in a class I taught a year ago, remember? I made you teach each other what you knew. That´s what we´ll do here. I´ll ask each of you to get good at some one thing and then ask you to make everyone else as good as you are. I hope there will be none of the stuff I saw in high school, one group lording it over another. The only way we´re going to do this is to work together. What I´m going to ask you to do is try to forget what you´ve learned about riding so far. You´ve been taught by my good friend Sarah, and by others, but I want you to start all over.
“Who can tell me the most important difference between a human and a horse? Anybody?”
I hadn´t expected an answer. “You guys aren´t working with me, yet. Okay, the difference is that horses are prey. Humans are predators. Horses know that they could very well be a human´s next meal.”
I looked at Jane Pinski, handed her some change. “Jane, I´m talking too much. Would you please get me a soda?”
Jane stood up and walked to the soda machine, put the money in and brought me back the can.
“Now, you all saw Jane do that for me. Let me tell you what you saw, but you didn´t realize. You saw a predator, a carnivore, do something the predator´s way. Any horse that saw that would know who he was dealing with. Now, let me show you how a horse might do the same thing.”
I got up slowly, looking around. Will went over to the machine and just stood there in front of it, examining his fingernails. I wandered around the room, watching Will until he went back to his chair and sat down. Then I approached the machine, keeping an eye out for trouble and especially for Will. Even after I put money in, I looked around before I took a can out. I spent as much time as I could looking around, ready to run. Eventually, I got back to my seat on the table.
“See what I mean? It´s a whole different way of looking at things. And, horses can smell that you are a carnivore; you smell of meat, not grass.”
Susan spoke up. “What about me? I´m a vegetarian.”
“Sorry, Susan. It doesn´t change other things that are just as important. Look in the mirror over there – look at yourself ... Eyes on the front of your head, ears flat back on the sides of your head. You look like a predator, and you´re not going to fool a horse just because you don´t smell of meat. Your ears don´t even move. They don´t need to, because you´re the eater, not the eaten.
“So here´s what we´re going to do. We´re going to learn how to relate to horses the way they relate to each other. They´re herd animals. You´re going to learn to relate to these critters like the alpha member of the herd, the number one. They love to play, and you´re going to learn to play the way horses play, but as the alpha player. Learn to read their body language. Learn to talk their body language so they know what you want and so you can relate to them as fellow critters.
“You´re going to learn anatomy – of the horse. Will, here is an artist, a lot of you know him. He paints horses professionally. He´s got a miniature skeleton of a horse – over there. You need to know the bones in the horse´s body, know his muscles, understand his digestion. Will´s going to help with that.
“Starting tomorrow, you´re not going to ride your horses in class for a while. We´re going to learn to work with them and play with them on the ground. And we´re going to work with them that way until we really understand what control means. For a long time, you won´t be using a bridle and bit, you´ll learn to handle them with a hackamore, a halter.
“Then, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you´ll go on working on what we talk about in class. Bring your school books so you can take a break and study.
“Now, I don´t mean you can´t ride. You need to take them out and give them some exercise, but that´s really going to be just a reward for the hard work you and the horses are going to do the rest of the time.”
“One other thing. As you know, there are five of you who own your horses. The rest of you have been assigned horses from the stable by Sarah. She´s given you the best animals she´s got. You are each responsible for your horse all week. You feed them, you groom them, you muck out their stalls. But in classes, we´re going to all be working with all the horses. One day, you´ll ride your horse in class or in practice, another day you´ll use someone else´s.
“How come? Why can´t I just work with my own horse?”
“When I was growing up, we had about twenty-five horses on the ranch. When we needed a mount, or when we needed to give one a rest, we went and got another one. Sure, there were ones you knew, one you liked better than another, but if someone else was riding it, or if it was tired, you picked another. On the ranch you learn to relate to every horse on the place, to some extent at least. I want you to learn to relate to any horse you meet. This is the way I´m going to try and teach you. Okay?”
The girls all nodded agreement.
“And, if you don´t like what I ask you, if you don´t agree with what I tell you, here´s what you do. Do what I ask. Then, come to me and tell me what your problem is. I don´t know everything. I make mistakes. But I won´t ask you to do anything I don´t think is right. If I´m wrong, I´ll say so. If I´m right, I´ll try to tell you why.
“One other thing. I want ideas on what we ought to call ourselves. Besides ‘Sarah´s Saddle Bums´.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with each of them, hugging them when I could and making them into a team.
.oOo.
One afternoon Sigrid appeared wearing exercise clothes. “Okay, everyone. Aerobics.” She turned on a tape of exercise music and began working out with the girls. Saul, in sweats, lounged on a hay bale.
After the first set, Sigrid called a rest. Most of the girls were out of shape and puffing.
“Next week, bring or wear exercise clothes on Wednesday, okay? You need these workouts so you can be better riders.”
“Saul,” called Helen, “are you going to lie around all afternoon?”
“Why not?”
Three of the girls dragged him from his lounge. “If we have to do this, you do too.”
Saul peeled off his sweats. He was wearing exercise clothes, too.
“Okay, girls, follow this.” He started the music again, and led them into a fast step routine. After 15 minutes, he was still going, but the girls were dropping by the wayside. Sigrid stopped the music.
“That´s no fair, he´s a professional,” one of them said.
Sigrid responded, “That´ll teach you to challenge a guy who swims 50 laps every morning. Take a break and then you can get busy with your horses.”
Saul said to Sigrid, “Shame we don´t have showers here. They shouldn´t do all that exercise, get all sweaty, and then go out in the cold with the horses. We need to talk to Sarah about this.”
“The space next door looks like it was a cow barn. Let´s talk to Tom and see if there´s something he can do.”
“We really do need a locker room. Showers would be a natural.”